Reinforced concrete supporting-beam.



APPLICATION FILED JULY 7, 1908.

- 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Patented Jan 93M" woes ms Name); PETERS co., wn'snmmou, n c.

J. NEEDS REINPOROED GONGRETE SUPPORTING BEAM.

1 APPLICATION FILED JULY 7,1908.

910,947. Patented Jan. 26, 1909.

2 EHEETS-SHEIBT 2.

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THE NORRIS PETERS c0, WASHINGTON, u. c.

' culiar form, and-in JAMES NEEDS, OF FAKENHAM, ENGLAND.

,mrnvrononn ooncnnrn SUPPORTING-BEAM.

Specification of Letters Patent. Original application filed February 25,1908, Serial No. 417,778.

Patented Jan. 26, 1909.

Divided and this application filed July '7, 1908.

Serial No. 2,333.

To all whom it mag concern:

Be it known that 1, JAMES Nnnns, a subj ect of the King of GreatBritain, residing at Fakenham, in the county of Norfolk, England,have-invented certain new and useful Improvements in ReinforcedConcrete-Supporting-Beams, of whichthe following is a specification,this being a division of my app ication-filed February 25, 1908, SerialN 0. 417,778.

My invention relates to reinforced con crete constructions, andparticularly to beams, girders, sills, sleepers or othersupportcharacter and general purpose, formed of a body of concrete, reining elements of like forced with strips or plates of perforated metal orwire netting in combination with strengthening bars, said supportingelements, or supporting beams, etc., designed tolie horizontally andsupport a superstructure thereon. 1

The object of my inventionis to provide such beams, or other likeconstructions of concrete, with reinforcing webs so arranged as to givea maximum of strength to the beam with. a minimum ofweight, andparticularly to so arrange the stiffening-or reinforcing Webs that theyshall present semitubular folds or crimps,'transversely of the strain,both above andbelow the neutral axis ofthebeam. V l 1.

Another object of my invention is to provide a beam of the characterdescribed with means for counteracting any tendency of the corrugated orfolded reinforced strips to flatten out under strain, or to lose theirpecompletely connect the strips with the mate rial of the concrete andfurther to connect said reinforcing strips with strengthening bars ofiron. c I v In the drawings, Figure 1, is a perspective view of a beamreinforced by oppositely disposed compound curved plates or strips and ya T-iron below the neutral axis thereof, theconcrete being broken awayat one end to show more clearly the interior construe 'tion. Fig. 2, isa like view to Fig. 1, but

showing a construction in which two strengthenlng bars are used; Fig. 3,is an edge view" of another form of beam. Fig. 4, is atop view thereof,and Fig. 5, isa section of Fig. 3,"

showing the means whereby the I-beams and Wire netting are tiedtogether.

. the beam. 'While this beam this connection to more.

of my invention to a body desig Like reference characters throughout theand D, inserted near the upper and lower surfaces of the beam, and aplate or strip C which extends longitudinally through the middle of thebeam, all of these strips being of the same width as the beam. Betweeneach two of'the plates B and C, or C and D, is placed the compoundcurved or convoluted strips E and F. Each strip preferably has insection the general form of a W as will be seen from the drawings. Thereare two of these corrugated strips, one E placed above and the other Fplaced below the plate 0. Their middle corrugations being in alinementwith each other. The corrugated sheets or strips are preferably attachedto the middle strip 0 by rivets as shown at 1 in Fig. 2 or other tiesthough this is not absolutely necessary. The beam is furtherstrengthened below itsneutral axis by the bar G, which I have shown as aT-bar. This is arranged within the central bend of the lowermost archedplate, and it extends from end to end of the beam. It is designedparticularly to counteract the tension strain on may be simply placedwithin the concrete body without being especially connected to thereinforcing stri s or sheets, I bolt or otherwise attac 1 the adjacentstrip C to it. While I have shown a strengthening bar T-shaped in crosssection, it will of coursebe understood that the bar may be of any othershape desired.

in Fig. 2, I show another form of supporting beam composed as that inFig. 1, with a body A of concrete, the upper, lower and middle. platesor strips 13, perforated metal or wire netting, and having theconvoluted strengthening webs E and F, but instead of using one beamGbelow the neutral axis i provide two beams G, G,

C and D, of v which are introduced as shown within the 1 central bendsor arches of the strips F1 and F. This of course, is a construction muchstronger than that previously described and is adapted to a largervariety of work.

" In Figs. 3, 4 and 5, l'show the'application ed to support particularlyheavy loads and to keep its vith the concrete.

shape under varying strains. In this case the concrete body A isstrengthened by the three upper, lower and middle plates or stripsheretofore described, and the folded or arched plates between the middlesheet or strip and the two outer sheets or strips. The beam is stillfurther strengthened by the oppositely disposed upper and lowerill-beams or bars G, G, which are arranged within the central bends oreonvolutions of the plates E and F.

In order to bind or tie the strengthening bars into place and to bindthe concrete, the strengthening bars, and the strips into one compactbody, 1 provide the tie hoops ll, which surround the convoluted strips Eand F, and the bars G, G. These hoops are preferably made in twoportions with outwardly projecting flanges H, on the ends provided withbolts H whereby the hoops or 'ies may be attached to the transversewebbing C. It will be noted that this con struction keeps the archedstrips in shape and does not allow them to expand or change theircondition under strain, and that it securely holds the Lbeams intoconjunction It will also be noted that both the arched strips and thestrengthening beams are entirely within the encompassing hoops and tiedthereby.

I have found by practical experience that beams as just above describedare of much greater strength than beams ordinarily reinforced, and thatsuch beams are capable of a large variety of uses, particularly inpositions where the beams are subjected to fluctuating and varyingstrains.

1 of course, do not wish to limit myself as to the uses to which I mayput beams of the character described, as they may be and designed to beused in all situations where horizontal support is necessary, eitherwhere said supporting element is in turn supported along its entireunder side, as in the case of sills or sleepers, or where it issupported only at its ends as in the case with girders, the principle ofmy invention being the same in all cases.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a supporting-beam of the character described, a longitudinallyextended body composed of plastic material, a transversely convolutedstrip of metal i'abric of the length of the body and embedded therein,and a strengthening bar of the len th of the body located between theconvolutions of said strips. I

2. In a supporting-beam of the character described, a longitudinallyextended body composed of plastic material, fiat strips of metal fabricof the same width and length as the body, spaced apart and embedded inthe body, transversely convoluted strips of metal fabric of the lengthof the body and located between the flat strips, and a strengthening barof the length of the body located between the central arch of one ofsaid convoluted strips.

3. In a supporting-beam of the character described, a longitudinallyextended body composed of plastic material having strips of reticulatedmetal fabric spaced apart and embedded in the body and of the same widthas the body and extending throughout the length thereof, transverselyconvoluted strips of reticulated fabric arranged between said strips andextending the length of the body, and a strengthening bar arrangedwithin the central arch of one of said convoluted strips and extendingthroughout the length of the body.

at. In a supporting-beam of the character described, a longitudinallyextended body composed of plastic material, lat strips of metal fabricembedded therein of the same length and width as the body, said stripsbeing located adjacent to opposed surfaces of the body and through themiddle thereof, opposed transversely convoluted strips of metal fabricarranged between said flat strips and extending the length of the body,and strengthening bars of the length of the body arranged within thecentral arches of said convoluted strips at opposite sides of the middleflat strip.

5. In a supporting-beam of the character described, a body composed ofplastic material, a central core, of transversely convoluted strips andconjoined strengthening beams extending throughout the length of thebody, in combination with a binding hoop surrounding and tying togethersaid convoluted strips and said strengthening bars,

6. In a supporting-beam of the character described, a longitudinallyextended body of plastic material having upper, lower, and

middle parallel and longitudinal strips of metal fabric embedded thereinof the length. and width of the body, oppositely disposed transverselyconvoluted strips of metal fabric of the length of the body, arrangedbetween each two of said longitudinal strips, upper and lowerstrengthening bars of the length of the body on either side of themiddle longitudinal strip located between the central folds of theconvoluted strips, in combination with binding hoops surroundingthebars, and convoluted strips, said hoops being made of two sectionsattached to each other, and to the middle longitudinal strip.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAiiiiES NEEDS.

Witnesses R. S. BULoHnn, FRANK Annnnws.

